Broken Ghost
by graphicalCatharsis
Summary: His mind felt muddy, as though it was quickly losing the ability to understand what was occurring. Stars circled his eyes, lights flashing and popping in his vision like fireworks. Floating…his thoughts were floating like they were ghosts themselves..-In the blink of an eye the life Danny knew is ripped to shreds. Can he pick up the pieces? Possible M, no real pairings, slight DxS
1. The End

Chapter One

"I'll see you guys tomorrow at school!" Danny waved behind him as he parted from his friends, Sam and Tucker. They had enjoyed their day, going out to see a movie and grabbing dinner at the Nasty Burger after gorging themselves on popcorn and soda. The best part had been the utter lack of ghost attacks during all of this, which meant that Danny had finally managed to have a completely normal day as Daniel Fenton, normal and boring teenager extra'ordinary'.

He smiled to himself as he walked back to the Fenton Works, tired and ready to crash into bed as soon as he sat down and actually did his homework. When that thought crossed his head he had to laugh, imagining Lancer's reaction when he turned in some properly done homework on time the next day at school. As he turned the corner that was about a block from his house he reached out, stretched and yawned. Ah, yes, a day without ghosts, a day for him to at least feel like a normal human kid again, was a very welcome one indeed.

This reveling was very quickly interrupted not twenty feet from his front door; a puff of blue smoke forced itself past his lips and he groaned. Immediately he dashed into the nearest space between the homes and raised his arms, uttering "going ghost!" as the familiar rings appeared at his waist moving opposite each other to alter his molecules. In just a moment Danny Fenton was Danny Phantom, and ready to kick the ass of whatever had decided to ruin his ghost-free day.

Flying up and out of the small alleyway he glanced around, quickly finding the culprit; a small flock of the altogether too familiar ghost birds that worked for Vlad Plasmius, though this time there was more than just a few of them. There was a whole army of ghostly vultures staring him down. It took a moment for him to realize that one among them was different, however.

"Alright, what do you guys want? I'm in too good a mood for this so let's just get this over with." Danny huffed, forming a ball of ecto-energy in the palm of his hand and tossing it up and down menacingly.

The ghost that had caught his eye was the one to respond; not with words, but the brandishing of what appeared to be a bazooka-type weapon. "We've come for you, of course." It smiled, and fired.

Danny had no time to react. The weapon's ammo had an amazing amount of speed, to start with, and then he discovered that it had a momentary delay before it exploded, effectively neutralizing any chance of avoidance.

The shockwave hit him full force, knocking him back and down onto a nearby rooftop, coming to a crashing halt against a chimney. A loosened brick dropped right onto his head, giving him quite the headache and only serving to make his mood all the worse.

"Yeah well, tough luck. I actually want to graduate high school so I kind of have some homework to do. So if you'll kindly get the heck out of here…" To cap off his disgruntled retort Phantom stood and fired a quick succession of ecto-bursts from his palms, sending the pack of birds scattering and the one holding the bazooka dodging.

"Surround him you nitwits!" The leader ordered, clearly irritated that his flock was ignoring their plan once the going had become a little rough.

The vultures seemed to put two and two together and remember what they were doing, circling back around to enclose Danny in a circle of ghost birds.

"One last chance to leave." Danny growled.

"Well it's a fat one. Now!" On their leader's order all of the vultures, using their clawed toes to do so, brandished small gun-like items and fired.

The effect was almost as instantaneous as the bazooka's hit had been, only this time there was no explosion. Instead, a glimmering green orb surrounded him, staying in place even when the birds had ceased fire. It was doing no damage to him that he could tell, until he realized that he had somehow changed back to his human form without realizing it.

"Hey what the…" Danny patted his chest and pulled on his shirt, confused. "What is this thing?" He demanded, the largest bird giving him a sour laugh.

"Just one of Master Plasmius' new little toys is all! We said we would come for you, and now we have you. Time to go, my kettle." The bird flapped his wings quite happily, until the others began to fly off. "Take the ghost child you numbskulls!" It griped angrily, and a small group doubled back to sink their claws into the glowing bubble that trapped Danny within.

"What does Vlad want from me this time? Don't tell me he's trying to go after mom _again_, because really, that's just getting annoying more than anything." Danny fussed in between trying to go ghost again and banging angrily on the force field.

The bird didn't bother giving him a response, only yelled at his underlings that they were going exactly in the wrong direction.

Crossing his arms, Danny let himself fall into a seated position. There was no way he was breaking through the field without being Phantom, so he had no real choice other than to just sit and wait to get from point A to point B, and hope Vlad didn't have anything particular nasty planned.

"Don't get your hopes up, Fenton." He muttered to himself, watching the city of Amity Park pass by underneath him. The green hue given off by the bubble gave it an eerie look after a while, and Danny turned his gaze towards the birds, and began to berate himself for letting himself get caught like this. Part of him told him not to be stupid, since he hadn't exactly been expecting the weapons that Vlad had managed to come up with, but another part just hated that he'd been caught by this dumb flock of pigeons.

After a little while he decided to just lay back and enjoy the ride, and he found himself taking a rather relaxing nap due to the steady _flapflapflap_ of the wind beneath the vultures' wings.

"Daniel. _Daniel_. _Daniel!_" Danny's eyes flew open, barely realizing that he was no longer in that annoying bubble. The only problem with this was the fact that he was now instead very uncomfortably restrained against a diagonally leaning metal table in Vlad Masters' lab. "Little badger you sleep like a rock." Vlad hissed.

"Yeah well…" He couldn't really think of a good comeback so he jumped straight to the good stuff. "Alright Vlad, why am I here? As I told your little pigeon friends I have homework and sleeping to be doing so I'd really appreciate it if we got it over with so I can get to that."

Vlad smirked. "Why _are_ you here indeed. Obviously that's because I wanted you here, but I suppose you're looking for the reason behind that, right? Well, Daniel, it's really _quite_ simple." The billionaire paced as he spoke with some enthusiasm. "I'm actually getting very tired. Tired of what you may ask?"

"No actually." Danny huffed. Vlad ignored him.

"I'm so very tired of you getting in my way. It seems like whenever I try to do something, you're there, even if only to mock me. Well, little badger, I'm through with being tired." Now he turned to look Danny straight in his blue eyes. "Surely you've heard the phrase 'if you can't beat them, join them'."

"No thanks, Vlad. I'm getting pretty tired of your attempts to get me to join your twisted side myself."

The man laughed. "Actually, I was going to rephrase that to "if you don't join them, die'."

Danny didn't like the look on the man's face. "And what's that supposed to mean?"

"Exactly what I said, or are you as dumb as you look right now?" Vlad responded curtly. "No more chances, Daniel. No more you doing everything in your somewhat considerable power to make my life miserable. And if you don't agree to join me…_no more you._"

A lump caught in Danny's throat. Vlad couldn't be serious…but the look in his enemy's eyes seemed to say otherwise. He was in deeper trouble than he'd anticipated, and he didn't see a way out of it at the moment.

"You know I'm not going to join you Vlad, not now, not ever. Why are you too damn stubborn to get that through your thick skull?" He hissed, struggling slightly against the restraints holding him to the table.

Vlad jabbed his finger at Danny's chest and positioned his face inches away from the boy's. "Boy, I am in no way joking, so I suggest that you take this very seriously. I'm not letting you escape me yet again if you refuse my extension of camaraderie."

In blatant defiance Danny did the only thing he could really do restrained as he was, and he took the close proximity between him and Vlad to spit right in his face. "There's my answer, and I'm not going to change it. Ever." He looked half-pleased with himself, half worried that he'd just made a huge mistake.

Vlad leaned back slowly, wiping the fluid from his cheek with the back of his suit sleeve. "Very well Daniel, you'll regret that…for at least a few more minutes." He had a deep scowl set into his jaw now as he turned to a control panel nearby. "I suppose the least I can do is allow this to be at least a somewhat fair fight." His fingers angrily punched a code into the keypad, and Danny found himself slipping from the table and to the floor, the latches on his body having been opened.

Before his feet had even touched the floor, Danny was in his ghost form and charging right at Vlad Plasmius. The two met initially with their fists. Vlad finally pushed Danny far enough away to get a good share of ecto-energy blasts thrown at the boy, which he easily blocked with his own.

Danny quickly reacted with his own attack, sending blades of ectoplasmic energy swirling at the other halfa before moving out of the way of Vlad's return fire. For several minutes the fight seemed to be a stalemate, until Vlad finally decided that he was tired of the monotony. He retrieved one of his favorite toys from his newly-created arsenal and took aim, Danny immediately looking for a place to duck after his experience with the two earlier.

"Hiding? Oh, come now. What happened to the hero of Amity Park? Are you _scared_ of my little guns?" Vlad laughed bitterly, looking around for the now hiding and invisible Danny. A loud noise from behind him attracted his attention, and he swirled around to find his ghost portal opening. Danny had found the activation switch.

Rolling his eyes, Vlad took a shot at the open portal hoping that Danny would be just inside in an obvious position to enter the Ghost Zone. To his glee, the powerful ecto-blast hit something quite squarely; Phantom to be exact, resulting in him turning visible again just before tumbling backwards into the portal. Vlad of course pursued, entering it close behind the boy and finding him dazed and dizzy just inside of it.

"That's actually one of my favorite toys now, Daniel." He grinned.

"I can't see why, it doesn't seem that special to me." Danny groaned and rubbed his back nonetheless.

"Oh? Well, you'll find out why shortly then, won't you?" Danny's eyes travelled to Plasmius' side where he appeared to have some sort of controller in his palm. He blinked, only then registering that it felt like something was clinging to him where Vlad's blast had contacted his then-invisible form. Turning awkwardly to take a look he saw that, rather than an attack, the weapon was in fact some sort of attaching projectile, and he could only assume that it was connected to the remote control in Vlad's grasp.

"I'm really starting to hate your new gadgets, Plasmius." He sighed, plunging forward in an attempt to get at his enemy before he could find out what this one did. Rather than bother fighting back, Vlad opted to simply dodge Danny's punches, kicks, and ecto-blasts, coaxing him on the entire time.

"Really Daniel, are you losing your touch? You're aim is just horrendous, and your form unspeakable. Come now, do you really want to hit me or not? Tsk, tsk!"

Frustrated, Danny stopped mid-punch to give Vlad the nastiest glare that he could muster. "This is going _nowhere_ Vlad! If you really want to kill me then why aren't you trying to? Either do it or don't, but would you just make up your mind? If not I'm just going to fly right back home. I'm sure it's past my curfew by now and _Maddie _is sure to be pissed at me for coming in late without a good excuse."

At the deliberate usage of his mother's name a spark flared in Vlad's eyes.

"Geez, can't even handle hearing her name? That's kind of pathetic man." Danny said, to further silence. "Man, no wonder my dad beat you to her, you're such a sore loser!"

Vlad growled, clenching the metal controller tightly. "That's it, the games are over. I'd hoped it wouldn't come to this, Daniel, but it's time to bring things to closing." With that, he pressed one of the buttons.

"Again?" Danny flailed a bit when he half-expectedly turned back into his human form and dropped to the nearest solid object. He looked up at where Vlad was still floating, holding the device's remote with a blank look in his eyes. The boy wasn't sure if he should try to run or just wait for Vlad to make the next move.

Before he could make that decision Vlad acted. He dived at Fenton, quickly and fiercely as though something in him had finally snapped.

"I told myself that if I couldn't have Maddie, then I would at least have _you_!" He tackled the boy ferociously, pinning him to the ground. "But you've _ruined_ that! I could have been a better mentor, a better_ father_ to you than that bumbling oaf Jack has ever been, but _no._ You have denied me one time too many, Daniel, and I can only take no _so many times!_" He screeched, wrapping his fingers tightly around Danny's neck before the child had any time to react.

Danny grasped at Vlad's wrists, trying with all his might to release himself, to gasp for air and fill his aching lungs with air, but he was no match for the man as a human. His mouth moved, begging for mercy. This seemed like a terrible way to go, with hardly a fight, suffocated under Vlad's iron grip. His mind felt muddy, as though it was quickly losing the ability to understand what was occurring. Stars circled his eyes, lights flashing and popping in his vision like fireworks. Was he even still pushing against his attacker? If he was he no longer felt that sensation. Floating…his thoughts were floating like they were ghosts themselves.

He blinked once more, and then all was black.


	2. Half a Halfa

Chapter Two

Consciousness.

Sensation.

Cold-no, freezing.

Eyes fluttered open, greeted by a grainy haze. Was that a rock floating above his head? Involuntarily, he coughed, and his head erupted into such pain he thought it might simply explode within his skull.

He tried to sit up, pushing his torso from the ground with his hand and using the other to grip the aching portion of his head. "Holy crap, what did I _do_?" He grumbled, a vague recollection now forming in his thoughts. "Vlad!" The realization hit him full force, causing Danny to stumble up from the ground and look around desperately for the man. He wasn't sure if he was relieved that there was no sign of his enemy, but let out a deep sigh nonetheless.

Absently, he kicked a rock that was on the ground near his foot. Wait, what was that? Was that his shoe? Danny blinked at the red and white sneaker, wondering when he'd managed to kick it off. He reached down to pick it up before grasping the fact that he was no longer in his human form. That was strange; he shouldn't have changed while he was knocked out, right?

Now he dared to turn around, to allow his eyes to follow the path created by the shoe and up to what was wearing it.

Screaming.

Disbelief.

Fear.

He was on the ground again, hands shaking, whole _body_ shaking, reaching out, checking for a pulse, warmth, life. Movement. Sound.

Nothing.

Lifeless.

Dead.

How was this possible? He was lying there, or at least his human side was, a corpse, suffocated by the hands of Vlad Plasmius, and yet…

"I'm…alive?" He patted his chest just to make sure. "If…I'm alive then…" No, he wasn't alive. He was a _ghost_. If he'd had the want to do so he would have punched himself in the stomach for not remembering that. But even if his human half wasn't alive he at least still existed. That was the important thing, wasn't it?

The wave of all this washed over him, sending him falling back to the ground beneath him in sheer emotional exhaustion. His body felt numb and hollow as he began to desperately search within himself for that familiar human warmth that he touched when he would return to his normal teenaged self. No matter where he reached he couldn't find it; everywhere, everything within him was as cold as death itself.

It was at this point when he simply lost himself, drowning in a wave of tears, hyperventilating as he rolled over into a tight ball. What was he supposed to do now? He couldn't return back to his family, they still didn't know who he was, and now he had no way to prove that he was their son with his human half gone. Sure, Jazz, Sam, and Tucker would stick up for him, but where was the _proof_. His parents would never accept him without proof, let alone the rest of Amity Park.

You lost your chance, Danny.

They'll never know now.

He felt astoundingly stupid. Up until then he'd always expected to be able to wait, to find the right moment, the right day, time, place, to tell his parents who he really was, but he'd waited one day too long.

They'll think you killed their little boy.

They'll hate you.

They can't hate me for killing him if they don't know he's dead. Wait, was he now referring to his dead half in third person now?

His head still hurt like hell, and the mangled mess of antagonistic words and ideas wasn't helping any. He wanted to go back to sleep and wake up to find that all of yesterday (or however long ago his last day alive had been) had just been a nightmare. Maybe Fright Knight had gotten to him and he just couldn't remember, yeah, that had to be it.

If this was a nightmare then he had to figure out how to wake himself up.

It had to be a nightmare.

Doing his best to control his erratic breathing, Danny stood again and turned to his human body. Looking at himself was surreal, barely registering in his mind. Perhaps he should do something about it…

Drawing on his cryokinesis he held out his palm towards his old form. A steady stream of ice emerged, encasing his body in a frozen tomb, stopping only briefly to reflect on the strange appearance.

Now he was eager to just leave it behind, and he turned to fly as far as he could from the rock he'd woken up on. He had to find the portal back to the human world. If the Fright Knight was really behind this then that meant everyone was in danger, and he needed to act fast.

He'd gone through the Fenton Portal so many times that now it was almost second nature to him to find it. That mission accomplished, he began to look for any sign of the Fright Knight. Surely he'd have encountered something by now, and yet everything seemed calm. It was too calm for a nightmare, and too calm for being Amity Park in danger. In fact everything seemed entirely normal.

Maybe he should just find Sam and Tucker. If something weird was going on they would know. Yeah, he would look for them first. His mind was finally processing at least somewhat normally, to his slight appreciation, though he flew to Sam's without trying to think too much about whatever might be going on. Jumping to conclusions wasn't going to make him any saner than he already wasn't, after all.

Instead of knocking on the front door like he usually would have, Danny simply flew up to Sam's window and knocked on the curtained pane. Much to his relief, the curtains were drawn back and a startled looking Sam started back at him for a moment before pulling the window up for him to float in.

"Danny! Where have you been? Tucker and I have been so worried about you; Jazz and your parents too!" She wrapped him in a tight hug, glad to know her friend was alright.

"Uh, how…how long have I been gone?" Danny pushed her away, and met her gaze with sincere confusion.

Sam blinked. "Three whole days. Wait, you should know that, you're the one who hasn't been here! Explain what happened, right now Danny." She demanded, pointing over to her bed for him to sit. He obliged, floating over and sitting on the edge of it.

"I uh…" He wasn't sure what to say. "Has there been anything weird happening? Like, ghost weird. Maybe the Fright Knight's kind of weird?"

"No, luckily. With you being nowhere to be found Tucker and I were worried we'd have to kick some ghost butt on our own. Anyway, you were going to explain where you've been? We haven't seen you since Tuesday night after we went home. You never called or messaged either of us."

"Yeah I…" Danny's mind blanked. No ghost activity, no Fright Knight, no nightmare… "Oh my…Sam.." He choked, clutching his stomach and fearing that he might release its contents all over his friend's carpet.

"Danny! Are you okay?" She rushed over and touched his shoulder, not sure what to do for her friend. "What _happened_?" She asked yet again, now desperate for an answer.

The ghost boy couldn't find the words; it was hard enough fighting back tears. After several minutes of awkward silence, broken only by his half-hysteric sobs, he finally managed a non-verbal response. He floated up, grabbed Sam under her arms and lifted her up and promptly turned then invisible and intangible before flying up and through the roof of her house.

Sam didn't protest, half-used to such things happening suddenly, although usually that was in the heat of a battle and Danny was saving her life yet again. "Danny, where are we going? …Danny?" She received silence in return; he didn't even look at her as they flew unseen across the sky towards the Fenton Works, and the portal that lay beneath it. "Danny!" She tried again just as he flew them through the green swirling passage and reappeared in the Ghost Zone.

"Damnit are you going to explain what's going on with you or not?" In retaliation for his silence she began to struggle as much as she could to make it difficult for him to continue on without readjusting his hold on her multiple times. Once he nearly dropped her, however, she gave up. Apparently she was going to have to be patient until they reached wherever he was taking them.

After what felt like ages, they reached it, a smallish rock floating aimlessly amidst several others. Danny let Sam down gently, and pointed to something that was about twenty feet away from them once her legs were willing to let her stand properly. "What, still not talking?" She followed his gesture, at first with her eyes, then with her feet.

"What…Danny…?" She stopped after she had circled around to the right side of the block of ice. Phantom floated over, stopping on the opposite side from her and avoiding looking at the object, the corpse, between them.

Sam didn't understand what she was looking at for several moments. She looked up at Danny Phantom, and looked down at Danny Fenton. Up, down, up down…

Suddenly her hands found their way up to clasp over her mouth, garbling a half strangled scream that was aching to escape her throat.

Coldness wrapped itself around her, Danny's arms…or at least his ghostly ones. Her face found its way to the crook of his neck and rested there, her tears soaking through the shoulder of his jumpsuit.

They stayed like this for several minutes, until Danny finally decided that they needed to leave, especially before any ghosts came along and found them. He leaned forward just enough to pull Sam into his arms, the back of her knees resting in the crook of his elbow and her face still buried into his shoulder as his other arm held her close.

The flight out of the Ghost Zone was shorter than the one in, and soon he was dropping Sam back at her house.

"Danny…?" Her voice cracked, tired from the crying.

"Yeah, Sam?" His was quiet.

"What are we going to do?" She asked the question that had been nagging at him for a while now.

"I…don't know."

**A/N:**

_**Fun fact- the font face I'm using for the titles of the chapters in Word is actually called Broken Ghost and was pretty much where I got the title from :D**_

_Oh my gosh you guys, so many followers in less than a day how did this happen sdfkjsd/dies_

_Okay so uh..thanks so much everyone who's following and has reviewed or anything else xD I'm not really sure what else to say I'm so bad at author's notes and stuff OTL _

_I guess I might draw a cover for this thing sometime, maybe if I get into a writing blank. I duno ;_;_

_Anyway I hope you enjoyed this chapter! Don't be afraid to let me know what you think :33_


	3. Overcover

Chapter Three

_"What are we going to do Danny?"_ The words rolled around in his head, begging for an answer that made some ounce of sense. Sam hadn't said anything further since that, and was now sitting at the head of her bed with her face buried in a plush pillow. The goth's phone had buzzed several times now, Tucker's picture popping up on the screen, but Sam ignored it entirely. Danny half wondered if they should be waiting to tell Tucker the truth of the matter; perhaps it was better to do it sooner than later, but neither of them wanted to be the bearer of the devastating news to their best friend.

"You need to tell them." Sam finally breathed, voice cracking ever so slightly, betraying her state of distress concerning her friend.

"Tell who?" Danny perked up a little, glad the awkward silence had been broken even if it was to speak about the matter at hand.

"Your parents. They need to know what happened. About the accident and everything since, and Vlad." She said, absently patting the pillow that was now on her lap.

Danny paused, avoiding her gaze. "I…I don't know Sam. What if they don't understand? Worse, what if they don't believe me? As soon as I let on that human Danny is…" He trailed off, not wanting to say the word aloud. "They're going to try to capture me, kill me, or experiment on me, whatever it is they do to ghosts anymore." At the thought of experiments his stomach turned on him again.

Sam scooted down to the edge where Danny was sitting and put a friendly hand on his shoulder. "You can't let this stay as it is and you know it. What do you have to lose? You can't go back to living a normal life when you're…" Sam blinked for a moment, seemingly having had an idea.

"What?" Danny asked, recognizing the look in her eyes.

"I'll be right back!" She hopped up with a little too much excitement for Danny's tastes at the moment and ran into her bathroom. A few moments later she returned with a handful of items, which she plopped onto the bed. "I might have a solution…a temporary one but maybe it will buy us time to figure out how to handle this." She grabbed a box from the pile and showed it to him. It was a box of black hair dye.

"You…want to dye my hair? How will that fix anything?" He looked at her, not quite grasping what she was proposing.

"Danny, how can you be so dense? _Your human hair was black_. If we dye your hair to its 'normal' color and throw you in a set of your clothes, you'll look exactly like your non-ghost self."

Before she could look too proud of herself, Danny had floated up and wrapped his arms around her in a zealous display of his appreciation. "Sam you're a genius!" For just a moment things didn't seem as hopeless as they had only minutes before.

"Yeah, well, we'll see if that ghost hair of yours will even handle the dye. Come on, let's get this over with." Sam pushed him off and grabbed his wrist, dragging him into her bathroom.

Less than an hour later Danny was standing in front of her mirror, hair successfully dyed black. Something bothered him though. "Uh…what about my eyes? I can't exactly explain them changing color."

With a somewhat smug look, Sam pulled out a smaller box. "I grabbed these while the dye was setting."

He grabbed the box and opened it, finding a smaller container with a pair of non-prescription colored contacts. "Duh. Okay so…how do I put them in exactly?"

Ten minutes later he was blinking back tears and trying not to rub his eyes. "Geez, they're so…irritating!" He complained, hardly able to keep his eyes open long enough to see the effect.

"Stop messing with them, Danny. You'll get used to them, you just have to be patient." She instructed. "Now let me just grab those clothes…"

"Why do you have a pair of my clothes?"

"Do you not remember when Tucker and I had to play decoy for you? I just kept them around in case we had to pull something like that again." Sam then disappeared, reappearing a minute later with a shirt and jeans, even a pair of shoes. "I actually don't know if the shoes will fit you…Try them on anyway I guess. You can always grab another pair when you get home at any rate." She left him to change, and when he came out, properly dressed, Sam was quite impressed.

"You can't even tell the difference. Well your eyes are half red from the contacts but that should go away soon enough. Now we need to get you home! Jazz can only cover for you for so long you know."

"Jazz has been covering for me? What did she say I was doing?" Danny asked curiously, in between examining himself in Sam's mirror.

"Some story about you and Tucker doing a project for school, so you've just been staying at his house." Sam explained, finally bothering to pick up her phone and see what Tucker had wanted. "You should get home now. Do you want me to come or…?"

"No, you've done more than enough already, Sam." Danny waved her off. "Besides, if I've been staying with Tucker, then they might wonder why I was with you."

"True. Should I uh…tell him what's going on?"

They looked at each other for several long moments. "Let's wait a little while, to see how things go. I don't want to freak him out or anything."

"Yeah, probably a good idea." Sam agreed. "Anyway, off you go." She shooed him out the window, though he immediately dropped to the street when he was out. The downside of having to disguise himself as a human now was that he couldn't simply use his ghost powers; everyone would recognize him if he went flying around town.

With a lengthy and tired sigh, Danny Fenton began the trek to his home.

**AN:**

Hi guys! Sorry this chapter's short; I wanted to go ahead and do a quick update. Don't worry though, this is certainly not the end to Danny's problems xD

Also, notice the new cover? I whipped that up, and you can find a full version here:

/ZODEStfCLWjK or

/d5wd6jt

So yeah, enjoy, and don't be afraid to let me know what you think!~


	4. Luxmortis

Chapter Four

"Hello? Anyone home?" Danny opened the front door and peered into the front hall before shuffling in and shutting the door behind himself. The entrance hall was quiet, but he assumed that his parents were in the lab downstairs and his sister was probably in her room studying. With a shrug he began up the steps to his room; he wanted to change his shoes since the ones Sam had given him had indeed been a size too small.

Before he could get there though, a door creaked open and he saw his sister emerge from her room.

"Danny!" She dashed over to her little brother and wrapped him in hug before grabbing him by the shoulders and giving him a good look over. "I've been so worried about you! Well everyone has been, of course…wait, are you glowing?" The hall was dim enough that she had noticed something Sam hadn't.

"What?" Danny blinked at her with a mildly confused expression.

Without bothering to attempt explaining, Jazz pushed him into the hall bathroom, placed him in front of the mirror, closed the door and shut off the light.

Sure enough he had a faint green glow about him.

"…Shit." He had entirely forgotten about that little piece of information, being so used to being able to switch forms and not have to worry about his ghostly half's traits ruining his cover. "I uh…yeah I've got nothing." Frustrated, he sat on the toilet and buried his face in his hands. Jazz laid a comforting hand on his shoulder.

"Hey, what's wrong?" She said, gently.

Well see my human half was strangled to death by Vlad Plasmius so now I really am a ghost boy trying to fit in with humans. He scoffed at the thought of just telling Jazz the truth.

"Can we talk about it later?" He shrugged away from her touch and got up to leave the bathroom.

"Danny, you know you can talk to me about anything, right?" She said, pleadingly.

Danny glanced back at her. "Yeah, yeah…later, okay? I need some time to figure things out…" With that he slipped down the hallway to his room in heavy thought.

As soon as he'd slipped his shoes off and found a replacement pair he sat at his computer, pulling up the instant messenger he and his friends used regularly. As soon as he logged on he was bombarded by messages from Tucker and a greeting by Sam.

He answered Sam first; his glowing problem was a little more important than appeasing Tucker at the moment.

**Sam**: Hey Danny. Make it home okay?

**Danny**: Yeah. We have a bit of a problem though.

**Danny**: Jazz stopped me in the hall. I'm glowing.

**Sam**: Glowing? I can't believe I didn't notice that. I guess I'm so used to your ghost form. I'm sorry Danny!

**Danny**: Dude, it's not your fault. I just have to figure out how to explain it to my sister and parents.

**Danny**: Any ideas?

**Sam**: Well…

**Sam**: Maybe you could say it's something to do with that project you and Tucker were "working on" while you were gone?

**Sam**: Or you can say you ate some ectoplasm, I'm sure they'd buy that.

**Danny**: If they don't decide to rush me to the hospital first and blow my cover entirely.

**Danny**: But maybe…what was that stuff they were talking about in biology last week?

**Danny**: The bio glowy stuff?

**Sam**: Bioluminescence?

**Danny**: Yeah that.

**Sam**: Hold on, Tucker is having a freak out.

**Danny**: I guess I should probably answer him.

**Sam**: Good idea.

**Danny** sighed and clicked open Tucker's chat window. It was already filled with messages, most of which he didn't bother to read.

**Danny**: Holy crap Tucker, would you chill out for two seconds?

**Tucker**: DANNY! Geez you had me worried over here!

**Tucker**: Sam won't tell me what's been going on with you man.

**Tucker**: Where were you the past couple of days?

**Danny**: Tucker I need you to calm down.

**Danny**: You'll be filled in asap but right now I've got to figure some stuff out.

**Tucker**: Seriously? You're talking to Sam about it but not me, Tucker Foley, Best Friend Since Like Forever?

**Tucker**: I'm feeling the cold shoulder man and it's like an ice age.

**Danny**: Ugh, Tucker it's not that…just.

**Danny**: Oh hold on.

**Tucker**: Talking to Sam again I bet. I'm freezing Danny.

**Danny** rolled his eyes and tabbed back to Sam.

**Sam**: He's being a drama queen isn't he?

**Danny**: You got it.

**Danny**: Maybe I should just tell him.

**Sam**: Maybe.

**Danny**: That's not very helpful.

**Sam**: Well it's not my choice to make. Just make sure that you're sure with whatever you decide.

**Danny**: Yeah…hey, I'm going to open a group chat okay

**Sam**: Sure.

With a few clicks of his mouse he brought up a new chat window and invited both Sam and Tucker into the conversation.

**Tucker**: Too late man, I'm a glacier.

**Danny**: Oh would you quit that Tucker, this is serious.

**Tucker**: Serious enough that you don't want to tell your Best Friend about it apparently.

**Danny**: AAAAUUUGH.

**Sam**: You guys, stop bickering for two seconds and let's get down to business.

**Danny**: We're not bickering!

**Tucker**: We're not bickering!

**Sam**: Riiiiight.

**Danny**: Sam's right though.

He leaned back in his chair and grimaced. "Well here goes nothing…."

Danny launched into a long-winded explanation of the events since he'd left their company on Tuesday. Neither of his friends said a word until he finished, and even then there was a long pause between.

**Tucker**: I…

**Tucker**: Dude I don't know what to say.

**Sam**: There's not really anything to say.

**Sam**: Except that we need to find and kick Vlad's ass for doing this to you, Danny.

**Danny**: I don't know guys.

**Danny**: Right now I just need to figure out how I'm going to handle being…

**Danny**: Well being all ghost.

**Danny**: How am I supposed to protect Amity Park from ghost attacks when I look like my human self?

**Danny**: And better yet, how can I stay a part of my family if I don't?

**Danny**: Right now I'm scared that a ghost is going to start on a rampage through the city while I don't have any answers to those questions, so if you have any suggestions feel free to make them now.

To his own surprise he'd made it this far without falling into another emotional breakdown. Whether or not it was related to his strength of mind or just that oddly numb feeling in the pit of what he assumed was his stomach he couldn't tell though.

**Tucker**: You should just tell your parents Danny.

**Sam**: Are you stupid Tucker? He can't prove anything to his parents now!

**Tucker**: Well maybe you should ask your sister then.

**Tucker**: She's got answers to everything after all.

**Sam**: At least it would be a start. Maybe she could help convince your parents, Danny?

**Danny**: I almost told her earlier…

**Sam**: Go for it Danny. She'll understand.

**Tucker**: Think of it this way: you don't exactly have anything to lose at this point.

**Sam**: Tucker!

**Danny**: It's alright Sam.

**Danny**: He's right anyway. I'm going to go talk to Jazz then. If I can't get back on again afterwards I'll just fly over to someone's house.

**Sam**: Why don't you come to mine? Tucker, you go ahead and come over and hang out in the meantime.

**Tucker**: Sure, I'll be over in a few.

**Tucker**: Good luck Danny!

**Sam**: Don't forget we're here for you no matter what, alright?

**Tucker**: Yeah man, you can count on us!

**Danny**: Thanks guys.

**Danny**: See ya.

**Tucker**: Bye man!

**Sam**: Be careful.

With that he logged off of his computer, stretching in his chair before sitting for a few minutes, staring blankly at the black screen. Yet again he began searching within himself, grasping desperately for that human warmth. Maybe if he kept trying he would find it; perhaps it was hiding in some corner of himself that he hadn't reached around in. Yet again it wasn't there.

Giving up half-heartedly he stood and pushed the chair under his desk.

As he reached his door he stopped to steel himself against the coming revelation. He didn't look forward to the look on his sister's face when he revealed his new, dirty little secret to her. She might understand, but that didn't mean that she would handle it well.

Taking deep breaths he walked down the hallway and knocked on Jazz's door.

Almost as soon as he did it opened, like she'd been standing by it waiting for him to come. If she had been he wouldn't have been surprised.

"Hey Jazz, can we talk now?" He asked, sheepishly.

"Of course, Danny! Come on in and sit down.

He did, but pulled her over to sit with him.

"What's the matter little brother?" She asked, a genuinely worried look on her face.

He gave her a solemn look, took a deep breath, and told his tale.

**A/N:**

_Thank you guys so much for all of the support with reviews and faves! I appreciate it so much and I love you hear from you guys, good or bad! Thanks for everyone who's pointed out some important facts that I missed too- it's really helpful3_

The internet is evil! No really. At least in my dorm it is uguuu. /lame excuse for lack of update

That aside, have an update and stuff! I had more to say before I started but really whatever.

Things will get moving a lot more in the next chapter or so I swear xD Exposition isn't my favorite thing to write either OTL

Hope you enjoyed it though, and don't be afraid to let me know what you thought!


	5. eDNA

Chapter Five

Her face was blank, utterly stony and unreadable.

Danny wondered if anything he'd said had registered in her brilliant mind. Perhaps she was too deep in thought to notice the sound of him clearing his throat awkwardly, attempting to at least get some sort of reaction, even an inkling of one, from her. Her expression was so unnerving that he found himself almost wishing she'd simply have broken down crying or something, anything that wasn't so...empty.

Finally she moved, reaching out slowly, carefully, ever so gingerly, and pulled her little brother against her, he allowing her to do so without any resistance. For a moment she was gentle, but her grip tightened once she was sure he wasn't going to disappear within her arms. Her hand rested on his head, tangled in his hair as she pressed him against her shoulder, her own face upturned as silent tears rolled down her cheeks.

"Oh, Danny…" She stuttered. "Little brother, Danny I'm so sorry…"

"Jazz I…stop being sorry. Don't be sorry okay? It's not your fault." He managed, surprisingly considering his face was squished against her shoulder.

She didn't say anything; for once she truly had no idea how to respond.

"Sis, I need your help."

She parted from him, clearly unwillingly, tears sparkling in the corners of her eyes. "Danny…what could I possibly do…?"

He took a sharp breath. "I need to figure out what to do…how to do it…I…have to tell mom and dad eventually, don't I? I can't keep up protecting Amity Park like this; my cover is going to be blown as soon as the next ghost tries to attack. But now they'll never believe me…I don't have a human half to show them, to convince them."

Jazz gave her brother a good stare down, and he could tell that, despite the nature of the subject, having a problem to solve had sent her mind into overdrive and was suddenly serving as a welcome distraction to the reality behind it. Knowing this, Danny didn't say a word until she broke the silence, not wanting to interrupt her thought process.

After a few moments she began to pace, elbow and chin in opposite palms as she stepped around her pristine floor. She paused several times, making him think that she'd come to a conclusion, but these only proved to be false alarms as she began her circling yet again. Finally, though, she turned to Danny and met his blank gaze.

"I…have a theory, but I need time to test it before we can present anything." She said, crossing her arms.

"Okay, what's your theory? Something is better than nothing." He prodded, curious.

Jazz uncrossed her arms and tapped him on the arm. "DNA. Maybe. I'm more of a psychologist than a scientist, but aside from the ectoplasm you're still Danny Fenton. Maybe I can use some irrefutable science to prove it."

He thought about that for a moment; it was true that, at least as far as he could recall, no one had ever bothered to check his DNA structure. If it was really the same aside from whatever gave him his ghost powers, then his parents would have to believe that he was their son. Or, at least he hoped so. "Okay so…how are you going to prove it exactly?"

"Well obviously I need some samples, from you as Phantom and…" She seemed to lose her words.

"From my other half." Danny finished the thought for her, and she shifted where she stood.

"Er, yeah. You get that for me, and I'll go borrow the equipment I'm going to need from mom and dad. I'm sure they've got everything down in the lab." Jazz said, trying to sound at least a little confident in her plan.

"Alright I uh…guess I should sneak back down to the lab them I guess…" Danny rubbed the back of his head and let out a short sigh. His sister simply nodded, a glassy look coming over her eyes again. Without another word he strode out of the room, making sure to close the door as quietly as he could manage.

All seemed to be going well until he passed into the kitchen on the way to his parents lab and the ghost portal.

"Danny! Your father and I were wondering when you would be coming home." Maddie Fenton looked up from staring into the fridge to decide what to cook for dinner. She didn't look especially happy, but seemed relieved to see her baby boy safe and sound; or as far as she could tell.

"Er uh…hi mom." Danny could feel the panic rising in his chest. The paranoia that she would notice the glow, the red in his eyes, the drop in room temperature…he needed to get down to the lab and fast, without her trying to follow him.

"Now we know it was for school Danny, but next time you need to stay over at your friends house for a project we would at least appreciate a warning! We were worried about you when you didn't come home." She strode over and went to give her son a hug, which he dodged by breaking into a fit of coughing and leaning against the table. When she attempted to pat him on the back he shooed her away.

"No, mom, I'm fine, I'm fine."

Maddie looked concerned and a little put off, but she sighed and turned back to look in the pantry while continuing her lecture. "We just want to know you're safe. With all of these ghosts floating around lately you understand that we just want to keep you out of harm's way honey."She paused mid-picking out a can of vegetables from the stack.

"Yeah mom. Sorry about that. Tucker and I were really stressed out about getting the project done and I was completely stupid not to call you guys. I'll make sure to next time though." Danny stumbled over some of the words but managed to get them out in a convincing enough manner to satisfy his mother.

"That's all we ask sweetie." She smiled and put a can onto the counter before reaching for a pot to cook them in. "Well your father is up in the Fenton Command Center working on some equipment, and dinner should be ready in about an hour."

"I'm not really hungry actually…"

"Nonsense! My little boy is going to sit down at the table and eat with his family after not coming home for several days!"

Danny had to resist the urge to groan. Now he had a time limit, just great. "Alright…" He said, and while Maddie's back was turned he made a discreet dash for the lab.

Once inside he stepped up to the portal, giving it a good, hard glare.

"Stupid ghost portal…" He muttered, remembering the day it started working. "Caused me so much trouble, and in the end it wound up being the death of half of me." He let out a bitter laugh before flying through to the other side.

He had work to do if he was going to get himself out of this horrendous mess anytime soon.

**A/N**: Hi guys! I'm sorry my first chapter in a while is really short D: I wanted to get the ball rolling again, and next chapter is going to be a lot more productive plot wise I swear OTL I finally know where this thing is headed so I'll actually be able to write more(brain permitting). Thanks for sticking with me so far everyone!


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